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These ruins represent the height of Birrin pre-industrial engineering, and continue to impress tourists from more recent, technologically complex societies today.

Part city and part fortress, this gate was built to defend one of the few entrances to a lush, steep walled floatforest valley beyond, in which a society of several million inhabitants flourished for centuries.

Initially a natural stone monolith with only a narrow passageway dividing it, generations of craftspeople and slaves hammered away at the stone to perfect it into its current form, before finally coating it with a resin/sand mixture to protect it from further natural erosion.

The guardian statues warned foreign armies and traders of the power and capabilities of the valley people, who maintained a massive standing army at all times, based in a garrisons built into the gate walls.

Too heavy to themselves be created from stone, the guardian statues were built from the interlaced and cemented trunks and roots of local float-forest and other imported plants. Treated with resin to prevent decay, this meshwork was then coated in the same substance used to smooth the wall standing behind them.

Ultimately, the civilisation responsible was conquered by a society that had developed steam powered warships, and who attacked from one of the seaward entrances of the valley.

Left to ruin by the conquerors for several centuries, it is now of prime interest to archaeologists attempting to reconstruct the history of the valley society.

Seen here, a small camp of nomadic locals pitch tents in the evening glow of the great gate.

Hey, I saw this on the cover of the Benieth Ceaseless Skies Magazine podcast. Did you sell to them? If so great for you, though a little odd given that they're a fantasy magazine and this is a science fiction picture.

I'm curious why the facial physiology of the statues are different than modern Birrin (the statues seem to only have two jaws, and the lower one is pointed.) Is this a less-evolved ancient form of Birrin, or perhaps some sort of armor/clothing?

Sometimes I find myself wanting to favorite your entire gallery. You're a real inspiration, man, keep it up; I just love everything you do with the Birrin. You poke at human society with both blame and admiration, something that few people can pull off.

Seeing the two people on the tent-house thing (which is really cool looking) made me think this, with it resembling a scene from a human romance movie, but do Birrin feel the type of feelings we do, specifically affection? Do they get married, or have 'partners'? Do they pair up, or have multiple partners? Do they have multiple genders?

There's probably a place for me to find all this information, but oh well...

When I saw this art, I was left speechless. I had never before seen a picture that had combined so many different feelings inside me. I got the sense of awe and wonder of seeing an ancient structure of great magnitude, the faintly fear tinged sense of something truly alien to me, as well as the jaw-dropping astonishment of such a incredible engineering feat. I salute you in this great accomplishment of Sci-Fi art.